读者文摘:我和我的父亲(2)

But as we put the new bulkhead together piece by piece, my dad knowing exactly what went where, I looked at him.

但当我们把新的隔板一块一块地组装起来时，我爸爸知道什么装在了哪里，我看着他。

“How do you know how to build a bulkhead?” The heavy mallet¹ he was swinging paused in midair.

“你怎么知道如何建造舱壁？”他挥动着的大锤停在了半空中。

“I spent a summer in college building them on the Jersey² Shore.” “You did?”

“我在大学里花了一个夏天的时间在泽西海岸建造它们。”“你做的？”

I thought I knew everything about my dad—all his random³ jobs.

我以为我了解我爸爸的一切——他所有的工作。

I knew about the apple orchard⁴, the summer at the horseradish manufacturing plant that burned his hands raw,

我知道苹果园，那个夏天在辣根制造厂灼痛了他的手，

and even the diner line-cook position, where he learned how to make the best omelet in the Western hemisphere.

甚至在排队做饭的位置，他学会了如何做西半球最好的煎蛋卷。

But I never knew this. “Yep. Now come up here and let me teach you how to use this circular saw.”

但我从来不知道这些。“是的。现在上来，让我教你如何使用这个圆锯。”

As he explained the importance of not setting the blade too deep

他解释了不要把刀片放得太深的重要性，

(information I quickly tucked away in the same place I store the information about how to use the tire gauge),

（我很快就把如何使用轮胎表的信息放在了同一个地方），

I realized that maybe it’s not that there’s nothing left to say.

我意识到也许并不是没有什么可说的。

Maybe it’s just that I’ve spent my life asking him the wrong questions.

也许我这辈子都在问他一些错误的问题。

A few weeks later, after my family and I moved back into our renovated⁵ house, I called my parents.

几周后，当我和家人搬回我们翻修过的房子后，我给父母打了电话。

Dad answered. “Hi, sweets,” he said. “Here’s Mom.” “Wait, Dad,” I said.

爸爸回答说。“嗨，甜心，”他说。“这是妈妈。“等等，爸爸，”我说。

“How are you?” We ended up talking about the consulting gig he was working on,

“你好吗？”最后我们聊到了他正在做的咨询工作，

a new battery he’d bought for his sail-boat, a refi my husband and I were looking into to bundle our home-renovation loan.

他为他的帆船买了一个新电池，我丈夫和我正在考虑把我们的房屋装修贷款打包。

Nothing life-changing, nothing earth-shattering.

没有什么改变生活的事，没有什么惊天动地的事。

To anyone else, it would sound like a normal conversation between a dad and his daughter.

对任何其他人来说，对其他人来说，这听起来就像爸爸和女儿之间的正常对话。

But to me, it was novel. A new beginning. I spent the first part of my life needing to talk to my dad.

但对我来说，这很新奇。一个新的开始。我生命的前一段时间是需要和我父亲说话。

Now I talk to him because I want to.

现在我跟他说话是因为我想这么做。

1 mallet   

n.槌棒

参考例句：

• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet.他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
• The chairman rapped on the table twice with his mallet.主席用他的小木槌在桌上重敲了两下。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

4 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

5 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。